Cool Water

Thus when Cool Water by Davidoff arrives like a surge of flowers and sea spray amid the well-behaved Colognes or elegant fragrances of gentlemen, it shatters records and becomes the standard-bearer of an entire generation of fresh water fragrances. In 1988, Davidoff and the creator of Cool Water, Pierre Bourdon, held in their hands a small olfactory revolution.

Cool Water, or ultramasculine power from the sea...

The 80s saw numerous fragrance novelties bloom on shelves, but as far as men were concerned, only big names held sway in this very closed segment. Yet men in the 80s also wanted their share of novelty, since the classics of the 60s eventually grew tiresome and no longer necessarily matched what a man was looking for in a fragrance.

Faced with this lack of renewal, the release of Cool Water in 1988 was bound to send a shockwave through men's fragrance ranges. The man of Cool Water sheds his elegant, freshly pressed suit to undress and step into the water. Thus the man of the sea is natural, raw, almost bare but still just as elegant. And above all, with Cool Water, he is finally free and no longer suffocates in his necktie.

The power of Cool Water comes from the freshness of the sea, Davidoff Cool Water: embrace the power of the ocean, as Davidoff states. But also, more prosaically, from its ease in adapting equally to the man in a suit and tie and to the surfer in shorts, the cleverness of the fragrance lying in offering different facets between floral and fresh water. Moreover, gentlemen not always at ease with change could also find reassurance in classic woody notes. Cool Water by Davidoff thus managed to offer THE fragrance that men had been waiting for.

Cool Water, the undisputed master of the fresh water trend of the 90s

Cool Water does not seek to dazzle but rather to astonish, so it would be entirely unthinkable to expect an ultra-faceted or complex bottle. Instead, the surprise of Cool Water lies in the extraordinary blue reflections that the bottle so beautifully showcases. One need only glance at Cool Water for a moment to be instantly plunged into the Great Blue.

Opening the bottle, presented as a sample of underwater terrain, one is literally swept away by a gigantic wave of mint and clary sage. For the first time, the dihydromyrcenol molecule appears in the top notes alongside aromatics to offer what would later be called this famous fresh water trend.

Then orange blossom and lily of the valley appear like a gentle wave of calm flowers within this turbulent ocean. The lull is short-lived, however, as geranium and coriander notes quickly bring their spicy dynamism to this floral heart. Finally, cedar and white musks envelop this swell in their intense woody warmth, definitively tipping men's perfumery toward the fresh, maritime side of its splendor.

By chance or coincidence, the magnificent maritime Cool Water was released the same year as the internationally successful French film Le Grand Bleu. Whether driven by a need for escape or for open spaces, no one knows exactly why this freedom to dream of deep seas became indispensable. Regardless, Cool Water by Davidoff sparked a definitive shift in men's perfumery that was followed by a great many fragrances thereafter.